Why AI Characters Are Not Real Actors

With the rise of powerful AI like OpenAI's Sora 2, which allows anyone to create fantastic videos, a common refrain is emerging: "Nothing is real!" This sentiment is at the heart of a heated debate surrounding Tilly Norwood, a digital creation being marketed as an "AI actress."

The Misleading Label of 'Actress'

While Tilly Norwood's Instagram page describes her as an "Actress (aspiring)," it's crucial to clarify the terminology. To put it plainly, Tilly Norwood is a thing, an "it," not an actress. The casual mislabeling has drawn sharp criticism from real actors, who have fought hard to protect their profession from being replaced by exactly this kind of AI technology.

This situation is an extension of our long-standing habit of anthropomorphizing technology. We often refer to autonomous robots or even chatbots like Gemini or ChatGPT as "he" or "she." We project a hint of humanity onto anything that can converse with us, even when we know there's no person behind the code.

The Creator and The Controversy

The problem is magnified when the creators themselves blur these lines. When Particle6 CEO Eline Van de Velden unveiled Tilly last September, the company proclaimed it was creating AI "artists." Van de Velden's vision was of "synthetic" stars who "never tire, never age, and can interact with their fans."

This announcement understandably alarmed human artists. With Tilly gaining over 52,000 Instagram followers and attention from talent agents, the threat felt immediate. Following the backlash, Van der Velden has since shifted her position, posting that Tilly is "not a replacement for a human being but a creative work – a piece of art."

An 'It' Not a 'Her'

This backpedaling feels like revisionist history. The interest from AI companies and studios in creating bespoke, controllable characters for commercials and films is very real. In essence, these characters would be no different from CGI creations like Woody and Buzz from Toy Story, though potentially without the soul a gifted voice actor provides.

Ultimately, even if an AI character like Tilly Norwood stars in a blockbuster film, it will never be a person. It will always be a thing—an intricate construction of bits, bytes, and algorithms. We may one day be unable to tell the difference between a Julia Roberts and a Tilly Norwood on screen, but the fundamental distinction remains: only one of them will ever know they are real.